Neglecting Salvation

Reading: Hebrews chapter 2

1. INTRODUCTION

Today I want to consider an important question
the writer of Hebrews asks members of Yahweh's church. It is
a self-answering question: where the answer is obvious.
This question is not directed at unbelievers, who openly reject
salvation. It is directed at believers, who have already
accepted salvation, but who could be at risk of loosing salvation.
The question is:

How shall we escape if we neglect so
great salvation? (Hebrews 2:3)

Note how the writer includes himself. He says 'How
shall 'we' escape; not how shall 'you' escape.
That word 'we' encompasses everyone who reads
the book of Hebrews. The word neglect means to pay
no attention, or not enough attention, to fail to take proper
care, to omit to do something through carelessness or forgetfulness.
The process of neglect is usually slow and often imperceptible.
Decay, mildew, rust, rot, deterioration and corruption of
all kinds seldom appear immediately. Like neglect they take time.
They come slowly.

2. ONCE SAVED ALWAYS SAVED

Millions believe that once a person is saved, they
are always saved. They can never be lost! Their names can never
be blotted out of the Book of Life. Salvation, they believe,
is guaranteed upon acceptance of Christ, no matter how the believer
subsequently behaves. Is that what the Bible teaches? I can
assure you that it doesn't. The Bible teaches that a believer's
name can be deleted - blotted out - from the Book of Life.
Consider these passages:

Deut. 9:

13: Furthermore the LORD spake unto
me, saying, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked
people: 14: Let me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot
out their name from under heaven:

Exodus 32:

31: And Moses returned unto the LORD,
and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made
them gods of gold. 32: Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin--;
and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou
hast written. 33: And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever
hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.

Psalm 69:

28: Let them be blotted out of the
book of the living, and not be written with the righteous.

Revelation 3:

5: He that overcometh, the same
shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out
his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name
before my Father, and before his angels.

In other words names can be blotted out of the
Book of Life. This means that after we have accepted the Saviour,
we believers must continue to do something to retain our prospects
of salvation. The Apostle Paul writes:

Philippians 2:

12: Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have
always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in
my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

3. WHAT IS NEGLECT?

But back to our text about neglecting salvation.
What does that word neglect imply. The wordneglect may be examined on two planes: the physical
and the spiritual; bearing in mind that the physical
plane is merely the shadow, the temporary object lesson of the
realities that occur on the spiritual plane.

The Physical Plane

On the physical plane it is easy to determine what
constitutes neglect. I list a few of many causes. Remember that
word 'we' includes us all.

Lack of Resources:
No knowledge, no motivation, no money, no energy, no equipment
etc.

Lack of Interest / Apathy:
Other interests have top priority.

When one or more of these three conditions is present
- and there are other reasons - then the result is weeds, rust,
mildew, dilapidation, dirt, decay and death. We see this all around:
in our gardens, cars, clothes, houses etc. The second law of thermodynamics
confirms this. In effect it says that: unless things are
maintained they decay. In other words neglect
results in ruin.

The Spiritual Plane

But what about our salvation; that all-encompassing
eternal goal on the spiritual plane? Does that second law apply
here? It surely does. Indeed that's why the second law of thermodynamics
was installed. It was put there by the Creator to teach man that
without outside input, all things physical - and spiritual
- decay and die. But how does one neglect his/her salvation,
that infinitely more important spiritual objective? Bear in mind
that neglect on the spiritual plane has eternal consequences.
Believe it or not the same three reasons for neglect are present.

Lack of Time: Too
busy doing other things.

Lack of Resources:
Spiritual understanding and power.

Lack of Interest:
in Prayer, Bible study, personal testimony.

4. HOW SHALL WE ESCAPE?

You have all heard or read about famous escapes.
Virtually every fictional story will include an escape drama.
Escape from prison, shame, defeat, fire, famine, drowning, death
etc. To the question How shall we escape? there
are many potential answers:

We cannot escape without outside help.

We escaped with only the clothes we were wearing.

We escaped, but some of our party lost limbs,
eyesight, health and loved ones.

Job 1:

13: And there was a day when his sons and
his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's
house: 14: And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The
oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them: 15: And
the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea, they have
slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only
am escaped alone to tell thee. 16: While he was yet speaking,
there came also another, and said, The fire of God is fallen from
heaven, and hath burned up the sheep, and the servants, and consumed
them; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. 17: While
he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The Chaldeans
made out three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have carried
them away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword;
and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.18: While he
was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, Thy sons
and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest
brother's house: 19: And, behold, there came a great wind from
the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it
fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped
alone to tell thee.

The word escape opens up a wide range
of experiences. One may escape with or without possessions.
And - sad to say - some may not even escape with life. They
may loose eternal life itself.

How shall we escape?

How will you escape?

How will I escape if I neglect so great salvation?

To these spiritual questions there is only one answer.
There is no escape -absolutely none.

If we neglect salvation we will most definitely
suffer loss and possibly even loose eternal life. That is a fact!

5. SO GREAT SALVATION

Bear in mind that salvation goes far beyond a
rescue operation from sin and eternal death. Great as eternal
life obviously is, there is a lot more to salvation than just
living forever. What will we do throughout eternity? How will
we occupy ourselves? Where will we go? Or will we, after a few
million years, become bored with an endless life of blissful
inactivity? What does that term 'great salvation'
encompass? The writer of the book of Hebrews gives us part of
the answer.

Hebrews 2:

6: ... What is man, that thou art mindful
of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him? 7: Thou madest
him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory
and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands: 8:
Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For
in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that
is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under
him.

1 Corinthians 2:

9: But as it is written, Eye
hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart
of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love
him.

In other words our 'great salvation' encompasses
endless ages of power, glory and interesting activity under instruction
and leadership of the Almighty. Indeed the redeemed will need
an eternity to appreciate the worthwhile projects Yahweh has
in store for us. To begin with He has scheduled Himself to re-create
the universe and share it with the redeemed host. They will become
joint-heirs of all things with Christ.

Hebrews 1:

2: Hath in these last days
spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all
things..

Romans 8:

17 And if children, then heirs; heirs
of God and joint heirs with Christ.

6. I PRESS ON

Philippians 3:

8: Yea doubtless, and I count
all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ
Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things,
and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, 9: And
be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of
the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness
which is of God by faith: 10: That I may know him, and the power
of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being
made conformable unto his death; 11: If by any means I might attain
unto the resurrection of the dead. 12: Not as though I had already
attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if
that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ
Jesus. 13: Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but
this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind,
and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14: I
press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God
in Christ Jesus.15: Let us therefore, as many as be perfect,
be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God
shall reveal even this unto you.

There is no trace of neglect here. Paul had spiritual
stamina. He weighed up the priorities and made his choice.
All these things were so much garbage (dung) when compared
to the glory Christ has in store for him - and for us! We ought
to be of the same mind. Have you weighed up the eternal options
concerning so great a salvation? Are you pressing
on? Do you count all things as garbage, as dung, when compared
to so great a salvation? Or are you, perhaps, neglecting your
salvation? Am I?

These are questions we must continually ask ourselves.

Because there is absolutely no escape for anyone
who neglects so great a salvation: no escape at all!